Method of forming an insert

ABSTRACT

An insert, which may have a facing sewn to the lateral edges thereof to form a seat cover, is formed in a processing method initiated by positioning an insert blank on a backing material. The insert blank is sewn to the backing material. An outline pattern for the sewing operation which joins the facing and the insert blank is printed on the exposed surface of the insert blank. Some of the discardable material lying outside the outline sewing pattern on the insert blank is cut-off thereby forming the insert. In a subsequent operation, the facing is sewn to the insert by an operator who employs the outline pattern as a guide. In this sewing operation, any excess material is removed from the insert.

United States Patent Hertz July 25, 1972 [54] METHOD OF FORWNG AN INSERT Primary Examiner-Frank T. Yost Inventor Km J Hem Oak Park Mich Attorney-John R. Faulkner and William E. Johnson [73] Assignee: Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, Mich. [57] ABSTRACT [22] Filed; Oct 23, 1970 An insert, which may have a facing sewn to the lateral edges thereof to form a seat cover, is formed in a processing method PP 83,573 initiated by positioning an insert blank on a backing material. The insert blank is sewn to the backing material. An outline ..29 91.1 29 445 Pattern the sewing operation which joins the facing and i 1/3/02 insert blank is printed on the exposed surface of the insert [58] Field e'i's'l'i 29/91 1 445 blank. Some of the discardable material lying outside the outline sewing pattern on the insert blank is cut-off thereby forming the insert. In a subsequent operation, the facing is sewn to [56] References Cited the insert by an operator who employs the outline pattern as a UNlTED STATES PATENTS guide. in this sewing operation, any excess material is removed from the insert. 654,618 7/1900 Freschl ..29/9l.1

9 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures wmzmsn JuLzsmz INVENTOR JLMEW,

ATTORNEYS PATENTEU JULZS I972 sum 2 (IF 2 METHOD OF FORMING AN INSERT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Seat covers for the seats of a motor vehicle are generally constructed in the following manner. An insert which forms either the seat or the back of the seat cover is formed as a first element of the structure. In subsequent steps of the processing method to form the seat cover, a facing is sewn to the lateral edges of the insert to complete the cover. The complete cover is then attached to seat structure to produce the vehicle seat. In the vehicle seat, the insert forms the seat or the seat back while the facing forms the trim or valance about the edges of the seat or seat back.

In order to assure the proper association of the facing and the insert in the sewing operation which joins the same, the operator must have a proper guide in the facing sewing operation. The prior art has taught the general method of marking a chalk or powder guide outline on the rear of the backing material to which the insert blank is sewn. With such a guide mark on the rear of the material, a first operator, with the rear of the material facing him, both stitches along the mark with a stitching device to bind the lateral edges of the insert and, with a tool operated in conjunction with the stitching device, trims the insert to leave a fixed border outside the guide lines. When this initial operation is completed, the insert blank is moved to a second operator who turns the material so that the insert blank is facing up. The second operator utilizes the lateral edge of the insert blank produced in the first operation as a guide during the sewing of the facing to the insert blank to form the seat cover.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a method of forming an insert and, more particularly, to a method of forming an insert which may have a facing sewn to the lateral edges thereof to form a seat cover. The invention also relates to the insert so produced as a new article of manufacture.

In accordance with the teachings of this invention, an insert is formed in a processing method initiated by positioning an insert blank on a backing material. The insert blank is sewn to the backing material in such a manner that the insert blank has one surface thereof exposed. An outline of a sewing pattern is silk screen printed on the exposed surface of the insert blank. Some of the discardable material lying outside the sewing pattern printed on the exposed surface of the insert blank is cut off to produce a finished product.

The insert finished as above described, with the outline of a sewing pattern printed on the exposed surface thereof, is finished to form a seat cover in a single, subsequent sewing operation. In the subsequent operation, a facing is sewn directly to the exposed surface of the insert by an operator who employs the printed outline as a guide for the sewing operation.

In greater detail, the method of this invention is directed to the formation of a plurality of inserts to which facings may be sewn in order to form a plurality of seat covers. In this method for producing a plurality of inserts, a continuous length of backing material for seat covers is unwound from a supply thereof. The backing material is moved along a predetermined path pass a plurality of operational stations. At a first operational station, individual insert blanks are positioned on the backing material with spaces between blanks. At a second operational station, each of the individual insert blanks is sewn to the backing material. At a third operational station an outline of a sewing pattern is silk screen printed on the exposed surface of each of the individual blanks. At a fourth operational station the printed pattern is dried on the surface of each of the individual blanks. At a fifth and sixth operational stations, most of the discardable material lying outside the sewing pattern printed on each of the blanks is cut 03 thereby to form a plurality ofinserts.

Each of the plurality of inserts formed in the above manner will have a sewing pattern printed on the exposed surface thereof to serve as a guide for a subsequent sewing operation. In the subsequent sewing operation, a facing is sewn directly to the exposed surface of the insert to form a seat cover. This direct sewing operation eliminates the prior art binding and edge trimming operation necessitated when the guide mark was placed on the back of the insert.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view which diagrammatically illustrates the various method steps followed to produce an insert by the process of this invention.

FIG. 2 is an isometric view which also illustrates the method steps taught by this invention.

FIG. 3 is an isometric view illustrating an insert produced in accordance with the method of this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The method of this invention forms an insert, generally identified by the numeral 10 in FIG. 3%, to the lateral edges of which a facing [not shown] may be sewn. When the facing is sewn to the insert, the combined material form a seat cover. The seat cover may be applied to a seat structure to form a vehicle seat.

The insert 10 is formed from a soft, pliable backing material 12, such as a foam or fibrous material, and an insert blank 14. The insert blank may be a vinyl or a cloth material. The blank is sewn to the backing material by a plurality of seams 16, the number and placement of the seams completing the decorative design of the insert.

In accordance with the teachings of this invention, a sewing, outline pattern in the form of a plurality of dashed lines 18 is printed on the outward facing or exposed surface of the insert blank 14. The dashed lines form a printed guide line for the operator who sews the facing about the lateral edges of the insert to form the finished seat cover.

The insert 10 is formed by the method of this invention in a manner which is best described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. At the beginning of the method, the backing material 12 is unwound from a continuous supply thereof at an unrollin g station 20. The material is moved from the unrolling station along a predetermined path pass a plurality of operational stations.

At a first operational station 22, individual insert blanks 14 are positioned on the backing material 12. The positioning may be accomplished by either an operator or a suitable mechanical device. Each of the blanks is positioned on the material in such a manner that the upper surface of the blank is exposed. Also, the inserts are positioned so that backing material is exposed about the lateral edges of the blanks and a space is left between blanks following one another.

After moving through the first operational station, the backing material 12 is moved into a second operational station 24. In this station the insert blank 14 is sewn to the backing material. The sewing at the second station is accomplished by a multi-needle sewing machine such as known in the art. The sewing machine places the plurality of seams 16 on the insert blank 14 so as to unite the blank to the backing material. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, seams are sewn in the direction of movement of the backing material.

Further movement of the backing material 12 from the second station 24 along its path of travel brings the same to a third operational station 26. At this third station the dashed line 18, which forms a sewing pattern outline, is printed on the exposed surface of the insert blank 14. The printing of the dashed line is accomplished at this operational station by means of a silk screen printing device. The printing device is fitted over the insert blank in registry therewith. A suitable marking material such as a water based paint is processed through an appropriate silk screen to form on the surface of the blank the dashed line which defines the sewing pattern.

The insert may have the sewing pattern silk screened thereon in a continuous manner by moving the silk screen printing device along with the traveling backing material. In the alternative, the insert blank may be indexed into the third operational station on a specific index cycle and the silk screen printing thereof accomplished between indexes.

Further movement of the backing material 12 from the third operational station 26 along its path of travel brings the same to a fourth operational station 28. At this fourth station, the water base paint forming the dashed line 18 printed on the exposed surface of the insert blank 14 is dried. The drying operation is generally necessary because the water-base paint is not adsorbed by vinyl material. If body cloth material is utilized to form the blank, the drying step may or may not be necessary depending on how rapidly the cloth material adsorbs the moisture of the paint. If the cloth material has some type of a protective coating thereon for soil repellency, the cloth generally will not adsorb the moisture from the water-base paint and it will be necessary to process the cloth through the drying equipment at the fourth operational station 28.

When the backing material 12 is moved from the fourth operational station 28 after the printing and drying of the dashed line 18, the insert blank 14 is still bound to the con tinuous length of backing material. The insert blank does, however, have thereon the dashed line which is utilized as a guide in a subsequent sewing operation. In that sewing operation, an operator sews the facing on the lateral edges of the insert utilizing the dashed line as a guide for the sewing operatron.

A set of pull rolls 30 is illustrated in the drawings of FIGS. 1 and 2. The purpose of these pull rolls is to aid in the moving the backing material 12 along its predetermined path at the same speed at which the material exits from the sewing operatron.

A fifth operation station 32 is positioned along the path of travel of the backing material 12. The purpose of this operational station is to cut the backing material at a position between the silk screen printed pattern 18 on the insert blank 14 and the lateral edges of the backing material. This cut on both sides of the backing material is indicated at the numeral 34 in the drawings.

The backing material is then moved further along its path of travel through a sixth operational station 36. At the sixth operational station, the backing material 12 is cut across its width between the following and the leading edges of adjacent insert blanks. This cut is indicated at the numeral 38. When these cuts 36 and 38 have been made, the individual insert may be separated from the discardable material adjacent thereto.

In the above described manner, the insert to which a facing may be sewn in order to form a seat cover is produced in accordance with the teachings of a preferred embodiment of the method of this invention. The dashed line 18 is placed on the exposed surface of the blank 14 for the purpose of guiding the operator in the subsequent sewing operation is generally formed from a water-based paint whether the insert is made of vinyl or of a material such as cloth. In either case, the color of the dashed line is so chosen that it stands out on the insert forming material so that it is readily visible to the operator who performs the subsequent sewing operation for the facing. In the facing sewing operation, the operator lays the edge of the facing on the dashed line 18 with the rear of the facing exposed. The operator then proceeds to move the combined facing and the insert through a sewing device. The sewing device sews the facing to the insert at a position spaced inwardly from the dashed line by a predetermined distance such as seven-sixteenths of an inch. Simultaneous with this facing sewing operation, a cutting tool may clip off any excess material which is outside the sewing pattern. This cutting tool, which operates in conjunction with the sewing device, may take any form known in the art.

The invention disclosed will have many modifications which will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the teachings of this specification. It is intended that all modifications which fall within the true spirit and scope of this invention be included within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A method of forming an insert which may have a facing sewn to the lateral edges thereof to form a seat cover, which method comprises the steps of:

unwinding a continuous length of a backing material from a supply thereof;

moving said backing material along a predetermined path;

positioning an insert blank on the upward facing surface of said backing material as said material is moved along said P sewing said insert blank to said backing material so that said blank has an upward facing, exposed surface; and

silk screen printing an outline pattern on said exposed surface of said blank, said pattern serving as a guide line for a subsequent sewing of the facing to the insert blank.

2. A method of forming an insert which may have a facing sewn to the lateral edges thereof to form a seat cover, which method comprises the steps of:

unwinding a continuous length of a backing material from a supply thereof;

moving said backing material along a predetermined path;

positioning an insert blank on the upward facing surface of said backing material as said material is moved along said path;

sewing said insert blank to said backing material so that said insert blank has an upward facing, exposed surface;

silk screen printing an outline pattern on said exposed surface of said insert blank;

cutting the lateral edges of said backing material in the direction of travel of said backing material in such a position that a substantial portion of the material between said silk screen printing pattern and the lateral edges of said backing material is cut off; and

cutting said backing material across its width in positions outside said silk screen printing pattern on both the leading and the trailing edges of said insert blank thereby forming an insert.

3. A method of marking a sewing pattern on an insert which may have a facing sewn to the lateral edge thereof to form a seat cover, which method comprises:

positioning an insert blank on the backing material;

sewing said insert blank to said backing material; and

printing on outline of a sewing pattern on the surface of said insert blank which is exposed after said sewing step.

4. A method of forming an insert which may have a facing sewn to the lateral edges thereof to form a seat cover, which method comprises:

positioning an insert blank on a backing material;

sewing said insert blank to said backing material;

silk screen printing an outline of a sewing pattern on the surface of said insert blank which is exposed after said sewing step; and

cutting off a portion of the discardable material lying outside said sewing pattern printed on said insert blank thereby to form an insert to which the facing may be sewn in order to form a seat cover.

5. A method of forming a plurality of inserts to which facings may be sewn in order to form a plurality of seat covers, which method comprises:

unwinding a continuous length of backing material suitable for forming the backing of a seat cover;

moving said backing material along a predetermined path pass a plurality of operational stations; positioning individual insert blanks on said backing material at a first operational station along said path of travel of said backing material, each of said blanks having backing material exposed about the lateral edges of the blank;

sewing each of said individual insert blanks to said backing material at a second operational station along said path of travel of said backing material;

silk screen printing an outline of a sewing pattern on the surface of each of said individual insert blanks at a third operational station along the path of travel of said backing material; and

cutting off a portion of the discardable material lying outside said sewing pattern printed on said individual insert blanks thereby to fom-r a plurality of inserts to which facings may be sewn in order to form seat covers.

6. The method of forming a plurality of inserts as defined in claim 5 wherein said silk screenprinting is accomplished with insert blanks and the lateral edges of said backing material; and

cutting said backing material at a sixth operational station along said path of travel of said backing material. said cutting being across the width of said backing material at positions between the leading edge and the trailing edge of individual ones of said insert blanks.

8. The method of forming a plurality of inserts as defined in claim 7 wherein: said sewing of individual insert blanks to said backing material is accomplished in such a manner that each seam of the sewing extends along the length of said blanks in the direction of movement of said backing material.

9. The method of forming a plurality of inserts as defined in claim 8 wherein:

each of said individual insert blanks is in configuration, and wherein:

said silk screen pattern printed on each of said blanks is also generally rectangular in configuration.

generally rectangular 

1. A method of forming an insert which may have a facing sewn to the lateral edges thereof to form a seat cover, which method comprises the steps of: unwinding a continuous length of a backing material from a supply thereof; moving said backing material along a predetermined path; positioning an insert blank on the upward facing surface of said backing material as said material is moved along said path; sewing said insert blank to said backing material so that said blank has an upward facing, exposed surface; and silk screen printing an outline pattern on said exposed surface of said blank, said pattern serving as a guide line for a subsequent sewing of the facing to the insert blank.
 2. A method of forming an insert which may have a facing sewn to the lateral edges thereof to form a seat cover, which method comprises the steps of: unwinding a continuous length of a backing material from a supply thereof; moving said backing material along a predetermined path; positioning an insert blank on the upward facing surface of said backing material as said material is moved along said path; sewing said insert blank to said backing material so that said insert blank has an upward facing, exposed surface; silk screen printing an outline pattern on said exposed surface of said insert blank; cutting the lateral edges of said backing material in the direction of travel of said backing material in such a position that a substantial portion of the material between said silk screen printing pattern and the lateral edges of said backing material is cut off; and cutting said backing material across its width in positions outside said silk screen printing pattern on both the leading and the trailing edges of said insert blank thereby forming an insert.
 3. A method of marking a sewing pattern on an insert which may have a facing sewn to the lateral edge thereof to form a seat cover, which method comprises: positioning an insert blank on the backing material; sewing said insert blank to said backing material; and printing on outline of a sewing pattern on the surface of said insert blank which is exposed after said sewing step.
 4. A method of forming an insert which may have a facing sewn to the lateral edges thereof to form a seat cover, which method comprises: positioning an insert blank on a backing material; sewing said insert blank to said backing material; silk screen printing an outline of a Sewing pattern on the surface of said insert blank which is exposed after said sewing step; and cutting off a portion of the discardable material lying outside said sewing pattern printed on said insert blank thereby to form an insert to which the facing may be sewn in order to form a seat cover.
 5. A method of forming a plurality of inserts to which facings may be sewn in order to form a plurality of seat covers, which method comprises: unwinding a continuous length of backing material suitable for forming the backing of a seat cover; moving said backing material along a predetermined path pass a plurality of operational stations; positioning individual insert blanks on said backing material at a first operational station along said path of travel of said backing material, each of said blanks having backing material exposed about the lateral edges of the blank; sewing each of said individual insert blanks to said backing material at a second operational station along said path of travel of said backing material; silk screen printing an outline of a sewing pattern on the surface of each of said individual insert blanks at a third operational station along the path of travel of said backing material; and cutting off a portion of the discardable material lying outside said sewing pattern printed on said individual insert blanks thereby to form a plurality of inserts to which facings may be sewn in order to form seat covers.
 6. The method of forming a plurality of inserts as defined in claim 5 wherein said silk screen printing is accomplished with a water base paint and wherein said paint is dried on said inserts at a fourth operational station along the path of travel of said backing material.
 7. The method of forming a plurality of inserts as defined in claim 6 wherein: said cutting off of a portion of said discardable material is accomplished by: cutting the lateral edges of said backing material at a fifth operational station along said path of travel of said backing material, said cutting being positioned between said silk screen printing pattern on the side edges of said insert blanks and the lateral edges of said backing material; and cutting said backing material at a sixth operational station along said path of travel of said backing material, said cutting being across the width of said backing material at positions between the leading edge and the trailing edge of individual ones of said insert blanks.
 8. The method of forming a plurality of inserts as defined in claim 7 wherein: said sewing of individual insert blanks to said backing material is accomplished in such a manner that each seam of the sewing extends along the length of said blanks in the direction of movement of said backing material.
 9. The method of forming a plurality of inserts as defined in claim 8 wherein: each of said individual insert blanks is generally rectangular in configuration, and wherein: said silk screen pattern printed on each of said blanks is also generally rectangular in configuration. 